4 man party

cbarchuk

Trying to figure out an interesting and fun 4 man party. Would love some suggestions because I can't seem to come up with one that I'm satisfied with. As of now I was thinking of something like this:

Halfling Berzerker
Half-Elf Fighter/Druid
Half-Orc Assassin or Fighter/Thief
Mage of some kind

I personally love single classes, like multi-classes, and hate dual-classes. Thanks for any help you can give me.

Armanz92

Since you love single classes a Berserker or Dwarven Defender basically is a must have.
Fighter/Druid will be a good healer and a major tank, so now that I think about it if you go with this Berserker might be better than DDefender for the first char anyways.
Backstabbing isn't very effective in IWD imho, except if you use a bunch of Thieves to kill a target or backstab multiple targets at once, but you definitely want some kind of thief..I'd go Swashbuckler over Assassin or just a regular old plumbus, er i mean Fighter/Thief. Half Orc's definitely the class to go for since you want that Kuldahar helmet on your Berserker anyways and 19 STR and CON is cool.
Mage...Mage...for the sake of balance I'd go multiclass mage. Since it's a 4 man party you will get your key spells Haste and Slow fast enough anyways, so no need for a pure mage (which is rather weak) or Sorcerer (which is incredibly overpowered, which I'd avoid except if you want that ofc). You could go Cleric/Mage to get some additional buffs, Mage/Thief to replace the third character entirely (not sure how much you like Thieves) or Fighter/Mage (in which case you might as well go for the Assassin [or Bounty Hunter/Shadow Dancer] since you would have 3 Fighter types which is enough).

cbarchuk

Thanks for your thoughts. Ok so we've got:

Halfling Berzerker

-Picked this character for trusted defender helmet and because its funny. But maybe you're right, I should go half-orc. If I did that I would probably change the race of my thief for variety sake.

Half-Elf Fighter/Druid

- I like this combo for sure.

Half-Orc Assassin

- I've got the RR mod installed so the assassin starts with 3x backstab at level 1. I thought that would be pretty cool. I do like thieves, and with only 4 characters, the assassin would level up extremely fast to offset the low thieving points. I know assassins get better sneak attack progression but that seems pretty pointless with only 1 apr and bad THACO so backstab seems like the best choice.

OR

Go Fighter/Thief and have him dual wield using sneak attack option.

Elf Fighter/Mage

- I like this over the single class. Should this character use bows you think?

Armanz92

Problem with halfling fighters is that they get -1 on STR. You could go Gnome Berserker and still use Trusted Defender, though.

cbarchuk

Good point. I guess I didn't think of gnomes as a fighting class. Another idea is I could make the Fighter/Mage a Gnome and go Fighter/Illuionist.

Armanz92

Fighter/Illusionist is an awesome thing to have for sure especially since Abjuration is pretty much garbage and Necromancy not that important either, so it's a solid school.

cbarchuk

Okay if I went that route then I would probably make him a melee fighter. So really my only ranged combatant would be my assassin when he's not backstabbing. But again I could go with a dual wielding fighter/thief and have everyone a melee fighter.

EDIT: Also what weapon classes should I go with for each character.

Wesboi

I would probably go 1 Berserker 1 wild mage/sorcerer 1 avenger druid and 1 halfling fighter/thief

cbarchuk

Wesboi said:

I would probably go 1 Berserker 1 wild mage/sorcerer 1 avenger druid and 1 halfling fighter/thief

Thanks for your thoughts. I didn't really want to go with a sorcerer since they seem overly broken in this game. I'm trying to keep the BG2 additions to a minimum though the Avenger does sound cool. Totemic druid sounds cool too. I love the iconic Halfling Fighter\Thief but he wouldn't be as good of a melee fighter as the half-orc. If I went Fighter/Thief over Assassin then I would him to dual wield using sneak attacks unless the lower strength isn't really a big deal? Maybe it isn't since high strength bonuses aren't multiplied with sneak attack damage. Although he would only have a +1 to hit against a +3 of the Half-orc.

SomeSort

Armanz92 said:

Problem with halfling fighters is that they get -1 on STR. You could go Gnome Berserker and still use Trusted Defender, though.

Or better, (in my opinion), go Halfling Barbarian. Barbarian Rage grants strength bonuses, so the 17 strength on the Halfling doesn't matter as much. You lose out on heavy armors, but between the Helm of the Trusted Defender and some of the kickass chainmails, (especially if you're willing to fish for one of the Elven Chainmails in the hand), that's not a big deal.

cbarchuk

I do like the idea of Halfling Barbarian for the Trusted Defender helm and he can roleplay Belkar Bitterleaf...lol. What kind of weapons should use? I assume he should dual wield. Maybe flail/morningstar?

Was going to go with a half-orc assassin but he would be pretty low on skill points as an assassin and half-orc. Maybe fighter/thief is the way to go and have him dual wield short swords.

Armanz92

Sounds like your Barbarian has some deep seated emotional problems.
Weapons is a luck thing..Long Sword is always a good idea, Flail/Morning Star, too.

Wesboi

Avenger druids are good for IWD probably the best kit IMHO for all difficulties. Only thing I don't like about IWD is mage spell advancement the lack of scrolls until u jump through certain hoops is always annoying so I tend to run a swashbuckler till I have the majority of spells then dual him mage.

SomeSort

Armanz92 said:

Sounds like your Barbarian has some deep seated emotional problems.
Weapons is a luck thing..Long Sword is always a good idea, Flail/Morning Star, too.

Long swords and Flails/Morning Stars are generally the "best" weapons, but prone to random chance. In any given run you may see the "good" ones and you may not. If you want something a little bit less risky, axes are nearly as good and most of the best ones are guaranteed drops.

Armanz92

I kind of recommended Flails and Long Swords because they have the best drop chances overall (at least from my experience of about 30 finished gameplays), also you *can* get 2 very solid Long Swords that aren't random in Dragon's Eye alone.
I do agree with Axes being a very solid choice, though.

SomeSort

Yeah, Dragon's Eye ensures that most weapon styles will be supplied with at least one solid weapon. The Long Sword of Confusion +2, Hammer Flail +2, Battle Axe +2: Defender, Erevain's Broad Sword (a Bastard Sword), Messenger of Sseth (long bow), etc. Nobody's going to be completely hosed in any run-through unless you're doubling up (two long sword wielders, say). Which will almost certainly not be happening in a 4-person party.

Armanz92

Also you can

kill the adventurer group for a Flaming Long Sword

cbarchuk

Okay I just finished Dragon's Eye easily with

Halfling Barbarian dual wielding morning stars and flails
Fighter/Druid using clubs/scimitars and a shield
Half-Orc Fighter/Thief using single weapon style and katanas
Fighter/Mage using Bows

Very good group and I have enjoyed a party of 4 much more than 6.